Toph of the Desert
by MorllyberNo.1
Summary: Co-authored by ChelberNo.1. Naruto/A:TLA. Toph Beifong wakes up in [Naruto's world] and she has no idea where to go. She wanders around for a while and, after a while, finds herself in the Village Hidden in the Sand. The Kazekage, Gaara of the Desert, offers her sanctuary for a while. What happens? Read to find out
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey guys! ChelberNo.1 here!**

**So this is a story MorllyberNo.1 came up with a crossover between Avatar and Naruto. Since I haven't actually seen/read Naruto, I am here to make sure Toph is not OOC. Because I'm obsessed with A:TLA, so I mostly know all of the Character's characters. If that made sense.**

**So, Morlly is coming up with the story as we go along, and I'm there touching up Toph and any other A:TLA person, and suggesting ideas.**

**Enjoy!**

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_[Toph_]

Hi! I have no idea who you are, but it's nice to meet you anyway. Whoever's reading this, this story's about me. Yep, me. Sounds self-centered, doesn't it? Well, now you gotta deal with it.

It's possible that you've heard of me. I'll give you three clues: Avatar. Blind. And… earthbender. You got it? Yes? No? Maybe? Well, if you do, I'm mentally cheering. If you don't… well, hi there, lily liver!

My name is Toph Beifong, Avatar Aang's earthbending teacher. Yup. The Avatar. I kicked his butt more times than he'd like to admit. I may be blind but I'm _NOT _helpless. I suppose I could try to explain how I get along, but that would take _way_ too long so I'll put it in two simple sentences: I can "see" with my feet. In other words, I feel vibrations and know where everything is.

This little-ish story is about when I woke up one day and found myself in a very strange place… it's hard to explain. I'm sure I went to sleep in my own bed, and when I wake up, I'm in who-knows-where! Well, I suppose I should get on with it, shouldn't I?

Happy reading.


	2. One

**A/N: Hi! Chelber again! Yeah, I have control of the author's notes. You gotta deal with it!**

**Thanks to all who read! Hope you enjoy! Reveiws very appreciated! **

**And just saying, I had lots of fun with Toph's reactions and these next few chapters...**

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_Toph_

I woke up sitting up against a tree. I yawned and stretched my arms out. I honestly couldn't tell where I was. Obviously I couldn't see anything, and the only vibrations I felt seemed to be leaves blowing across the ground in the breeze. I slid my foot around a little to see if I could feel anything big. Nothing. So I stood up and walked a ways. I figured I was in a forest, the amount of trees there were around.

After a while I came to the edge of the forest, and there was… sand. And a lot of it. I raised some rock and sat down on it. I thought about what to do. I could stay in the forest and eat who-knows-what until someone finds me or I could go out in the desert and get caught in sandstorms with no food or water and possibly die out there. I grinned. What's a life without adventure? It all seems to have worn off since me, Aang and the rest of the group saved the world from the Phoenix-King-of-getting-his-butt-whooped. It had been four years already. (I remembered myself as a twelve-year-old, teaching Aang earthbending…) So I stood up again and walked out into the sand. My vision blurred just a little, but my sandbending helped the situation.

Seeing as that desert went on forever, I'll save you the trouble of telling it all. I will tell you that I walked in a straight line for a day and a half, though. And that I got caught in a sandstorm that only lasted for about ten minutes. Pathetic little sandstorm.

I'll skip to where I felt earth. There was a lot, too. I quickened my pace and walked towards it. It didn't take long. I used sandbending to speed my travel up a little. Soon enough, I was right in front of it. I felt a lot of people faintly. It was like an entire village was hidden in the sand! Hang on… it _was_ a village. Weird. (But at least it wasn't buried in ash, That was plain creepy)

"Hold it!" I heard a man shout. Then I felt five men surround me, and the clink of metal. "Who are you?"

"Who are _you_?" I asked them. I felt them draw closer.

"Which village are you from?" A woman asked me.

"What are you talking about?" By then I was very confused. They were closing in, one step at a time. "Don't come any closer!" I warned them. I readied myself to bend the sand around me.

"State your name!" another woman told me.

_Settle down, cranky pants! _"Who wants to know?"

A man interrupted. "We are the Shinobi of the Hidden Sand village. What is your business here?"

_Not being bossed around? _"I got lost." Silence.

"You'll have to come with us." The first man said. I nodded slightly. They formed a formation around me: two in front, one behind and one on either side. They started walking and the one behind me pushed my shoulder.

"Get off me!" I said, and then I had a thought.

Why not shake things up a little? I bended the sand towards her and she went flying behind me, and the two on my sides grabbed my arms. I stamped my foot and sand shot up and pulled them away. The two in front of me had barely turned around and I heard the clinking of metal again. I twisted my foot and sand rooted them where they were. Then sand shot up and hit them in the head.

I had no idea where I was, but that was fun.

I cracked my knuckles, waiting for them to fight back.


	3. Two

_[Gaara]_

_I am Gaara of the Desert. I am the Fifth Kazekage of the Village hidden in the Sand. I am also a Jinchuriki, like Naruto Uzumaki of the Leaf Village. This is my part of the story._

_I came across a young girl one day, my age, and she interested me like none other. She was blind, and she could manipulate earth, metal and sand to do her will. But that wasn't the reason I was interested in her._

_She was probably the first person to not judge me upon meeting me. My voice or way of speaking didn't seem to intimidate her. And when I met her, little did I know that my life would change dramatically._

_So, here's my part._

…

"Gaara, Gaara!"

I looked up as Kankuro slammed the door of my office open.

"What is it?" I asked.

"We're being attacked!" He said. That got my attention. I stood up.

"Who?" I asked impatiently.

Kankuro shook his head. "One girl, about sixteen. She took down five Jōnin Shinobi! On her own, no weapons at all!"

I walked towards him. "Where is she?"

We started running. "Main entrance." He said. We hurried towards it. When we got there, sure enough, there was a sixteen-year-old sitting in the middle of the five Jōnin I had as lookouts on the ground around her. She was sitting with her legs crossed with her head resting on a hand. She huffed.

"Hey," she said as I came within earshot. "You should get better guards, you know." I was surprised. Not many could take down fully trained Shinobi like that. Some sand came out of my gourd and floated in front of me. She suddenly looked up as a few grains of sand dropped to the ground.

"Who are you?" I asked her.

"Toph Beifong." She answered. "You got a problem, buddy?"

"Hey!" Kankuro interrupted. "Speak with respect to the Kazekage!"

"What the _hell _is a Kaze-whatever? And don't yell at _me, _if you want to walk away with all of your limbs. I'm _Toph Bei Fong, _remember?"

Then I was amazed. She'd never heard of the Kazekage. "Who are you?" I asked again.

"Do I need to say it for the third time? Seriously, buddy?"

Kankuro and I looked at each other. We were both at a complete loss of words.

"Come with me." I told her. "Kankuro, get these Shinobi to the medical wing."

"Yes, of course." Kankuro wandered over to the Shinobi. Toph stood up, stretched, and followed me.

We wandered through the village. I glanced back a Toph and she had her hands in her pockets and wasn't looking around at all. She was looking straight at the ground, actually. Her pale green eyes didn't wander at all.

We reached my office and Toph wandered in after me, dragging her feet a little. I closed the door behind her. I went down and sat behind my desk. She wandered over to another chair and sat down.

"Who are you?" I asked a third time. She sighed.

"For the last time, I'm Toph Beifong." She huffed. "Is there some sort of problem?"

"Not yet." I told her. "Where are you from?"

"What are we playing, twenty questions?" she asked. I didn't say anything. Finally she gave in. "I currently reside in Ba Sing Se." I just looked at her. "Ba Sing Se? Hello! The biggest Earth Kingdom town? Ring any bells? Or have you just been living under a rock?" I just continued to look at her. I was at a complete loss of words. She seemed to be talking nonsense.

Who was this girl?


	4. Three

_[Toph]_

"So," Gaara sighed. "How did you do it?"

"You're going to have to be a little more specific." I replied. I put my hands behind my head and leant back in the chair. Comfy chair, too.

"How did you beat the five Shinobi I had guarding the main entrance?"

"What the hell is a Shi-nobi?"

Gaara was silent. Well, how was I supposed to know what a Shinobi thing was anyway? I'd never even heard of the word!

"The guards that you knocked out."

"Oh. Them." I rolled my eyes. Some guards they were. "Sandbending."

"What's sandbending?"

I froze. The two front legs of my chair fell to Earth - or whatever this place was - with a _clunk_. "You don't know what sandbending is?" I asked him, paralysed. "Come on, you must have heard of it. You're a sandbender!"

Gaara sat down on a chair behind a desk. "Define a sandbender., then."

I groaned. Where the freaking hell was I? "It's exactly what it sounds like. Bending is... _manipulating_ an element to that person's will. You bend sand, I felt it earlier."

"_Felt _it?"

"I feel vibrations in the ground." I explained. "Buddy, I felt sand fall from the air near you. Unless it was the other guy with a bad attitude - which I doubt it was - you're a sandbender. Don't tell me you didn't know that."

And then - what do ya know - the guy with a bad attitude walked in.

"Who's the one with a bad attitude?" he asked.

"Well, seeing as you're the one wearing an outfit that seems like a dog, it's you."

"Why you little -"

"Kankuro," Garra cut in. "Miss Bei Fong, that's enough." Wait a sec, did he just call me MISS Bei Fong? Wow, that's new. I've only ever been Toph, The Blind Bandit or Sifu Toph. But _Miss_? Definitely not my style.

"Well, _excuse me_," I said. "Do I seem like a _Miss _to you? You may think you're being polite, or whatever your version of polite is, but I am _not _a _Miss_. Do I seem delicate? Actually, no, I'll answer that for you. _No. _I am not _Miss. _I am Toph. I am Sifu. I am the _fricken Runaway._"

Gaara didn't answer me. He addressed the other guy. Y'know, the one with the stupidly long name. "What is it, Kankuro?"

"The Leaf Shinobi have arrived." Kankuro told him, gritting his teeth. I felt Gaara nod. Kankuro left. He turned to me.

"We have a room for you." He said.

I stood up and gave him a mock bow. "Yes, _mum._ I'll just go to my room and stop bothering you. You can stay here and all your grown-up things." I smirked.

Gaara was silent. No sense of humor whatsoever. Huh. What a boring guy. But I'm sure I felt Kankuro's mouth twitch slightly.

I followed one of Gaara's minions out into the hallway. He took a left and indicated that I follow him. I felt vibrations all along the hall. There were two behind us. One a long way away and four heading right for us.

"So why DID we have to come all of a sudden?" I heard a male voice ask.

"Gaara summoned us here." An older male replied. Summoned? Who does he think he IS? The fricken KING?

"Yeah, but why now?" Another boy asked. "Is it such a good time?"

"Sai, Naruto, enough." a girl butted in. "Just trust Milady. She is the Hokage, after all." HOkage, this time? What is it with these people and... kage-things?

Then they were close enough to be right in front of us. They all fell silent as they saw me. I didn't turn my head toward them, or even acknowledge them in the slightest. But I felt their hearts race with confusion. Apparently I looked out of place.

"Who was she?" the first boy asked in a hushed tone.

"I don't know." The older male said, confusion in his voice. "But she doesn't look like a Shinobi of any kind."

What was with these people?


	5. Four

**A/N: Chelber here again. Who else? **

**Short chapter this time, but the next one is nice and long! Enjoy! (And, you know, if you have the guts, review) **

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_[Gaara]_

I was in my study that same afternoon, having sent Team Kakashi on it's latest mission. I was _trying _to do some work, but I kept getting distracted by some rumbling sounds. They seemed to be coming from Toph's room. My sand gathered around me as I hurried to her room. It sounded like explosions.

I opened the door to her punching rocks around the room. She looked up as I entered, but not _at _me. She sent a glare in my general direction, then continued punching rocks, sending them across the room.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"What does it look like?" she replied. She punched another rock.

I sighed. "_Why_ are you doing it?" I asked. She stopped what she was doing and looked directly at me. Well, her head was turned directly at me. He eyes were glazed, focused on some point far away. She shrugged.

"Because I'm bored," she grumbled. "You seriously expect me to sit around doing nothing?" she stamped her foot and a rock... jumped up from the ground? She kicked out with her other foot and the rock went crashing into the wall opposite her. Then her eyes brightened, as if she just had an idea.

She turned towards me and got into a fighting stance, which I recognised as the Southern Praying Mantis. "Show me what you got," she smirked, her dark bangs falling in front of her eyes.


	6. Five

**A/N: Yelllooo fellow follows! **

**This chapter is shorter than I thought it was. On the word document, it was _massive. _Ah well. Quality rather than quantity, right?**

**Hehe, you should've seen all the virtual arguments we got into over Toph's character here. (Morllyber keeps forgetting that she is BLIND! and I kept getting Gaara's character wrong.) **

**Review us!*Does the please-will-you-review-this-story-dance***

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_[Toph]_

"Show me what you got." I demanded, getting into my fighting stance. His heartbeat didn't change, the sand curling around his arm. I smirked. "Oh dear, always needing sand to protect you?" I laughed. "You some kind of wimp?"

"Why fight here?" He asked.

"Because I said so. You got a problem with that?" I stamped my foot. The ground crumpled and lurched towards him, but he jumped backwards before it could crush him. His sand shot through the air and grabbed hold of my left arm. Damn it. I couldn't see the sand in the air.

"If you insist on fighting, not here." he said. I tilted my head, raising an eyebrow.

"Where then?"

He didn't say anything, just walked out f the door. I hesitated, then followed.

He led me to an area, completely bare of anything, except sand and dirt. I stopped when his weight lifted from the ground and reappeared a little way away. I shifted my foot slightly and felt Kankuro standing a way off. He was shaking a little from silent laughter. _Huh. I'll show him. _

I got into my typical stance - knees bent, feet apart, fists at my side. I took little breaths, trying to be as quiet as possible, so I could hear _everything. _We were still until he shifted and threw his arm out. I could feel some sand in the air and before I could move, it had covered me. I grinned and clenched my hands.

"Impossible!" I heard Gaara gasp. "It's turned to stone!" And indeed it had. I had turned the sand covering me to solid stone.

"You just trapped yourself."

I just grinned and started laughing.

But, no, I haven't just trapped myself. Blind, not stupid.

Drawing my arms over my chest, making myself as small as possible, I stamped my foot. The ground below me opened up, and fell down into the hole I created. The stone statue thing I had made stayed above, unmoving.

I silently earthbent a tunnel, leading directly behind Gaara. he was still staring at my statue, waiting for something to happen. His eyes narrowed.

Ignorant.

I widened my stance, and took a deep breath. Then my shot my arms up, hands fisted, punching the earth above me, right where Gaara was standing.

The earth exploded outwards, Gaara with it. I could feel boulders and rock - the debris - falling heavily back to the ground, and waited for Gaara to fall, as well. With a _thump, _he did as well. But before I could move again he was on his feet.

Grinning ear to ear, I climbed out of my tunnel and smirked in his general direction.

"If you can't see me, don't just presume I'm where you think I am. I am _Toph Bei Fong, _remember? I don't easily trap myself in my own stone."

Gaara was silent. He just thrust his hand out and I heard more sand flying through the air. I bent my own sand up to meet it. At the same time I stamped my foot and brought up a huge rock. I jumped and kicked it, landing squarely on my feet as it barreled towards him. Sand simply came up and blocked it, before covering it and crushing it to bits. The small smile that I had on my face faded.

_Crap. He's better than I thought._ I felt Kankuro's weight not far off and he was perfectly still. He seemed to be gaping.

The sand that I was bending to block his was weakening. I didn't feel Gaara move at all! He was still as a rock (no pun intended). But his sand got stringer and stronger until eventually it broke mine and hit me square in the stomach. It sent me flying.

I managed to flip myself over and land on my feet. Then I dropped to one knee and doubled over, coughing up blood.


	7. Six

**A/N: Chelber is BAAACK! And we being you some more TotD! So, another short chapter here, BUT, from here on, we start getting into the plot some more! I will be writing a few chapters, toggling back to what's happening with the Gaang, then back to Naruto land, when shit gets real. Excuse my French. **

**Disclaimer: We no owny A:TLA or Naruto... **

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_[Toph]_

I coughed and spat blood for a few seconds. That sand really packed a punch. When the blood stopped coming I just knelt there, panting and glaring in Gaara's direction. He was slowly lowering his arm. Kankuro was perfectly still, just... not doing anything.

With a small grin I stood up.

"You're not bad, buddy." I called in his direction. "Not bad at all." So I bent sand up so it swirled around me, the same as him. At that moment, we were perfectly in sync. We struck out our arms and sand met in mid-air and withdrew, before striking out again.

And then IT happened. He jumped and his sand followed him. He was completely gone. I had no idea where the heck he was. I stopped bending and focused n my hearing. The slightest movement would give away his position.

And I went flying. A sand tendril caught me on the chest, sending me sprawling over the ground. But before I could do anything it was gone and back again in a split second. It struck me again and again, sharp as a knife and cutting me across the shoulders and chest. I felt blood slowly seeping out of the cuts. I curled myself into a ball and cried out with each strike.

Then they stopped. I heard Gaara's voice from the air somewhere. "Are you done yet?" he asked in that boring monotone voice of his.

I uncurled myself slowly. I rolled onto my hands and knees and coughed blood again. I put a hand on my chest and felt blood all over it. I tried to stand up and fell over. My head was aching. It hurt so badly.

So I tried again, using the earth to steady me. "Am I -" I muttered through clenched teeth. "Am I done?" I asked myself. My head dropped and I fell forwards. Landing on my chest sent pain all through my body and I screamed. But I managed to stand up again. Gritting my teeth I looked where Gaara's voice had come from. "I'm -" I started. I raised my voice. "I'm nowhere near done!" I stamped my foot and raised my arms. A giant sand cloud raised itself above me and in a second, I could feel the air. Gaara was still where he had spoken but before I could move he was up and out of the cloud. But I sent a rock up, with another hiding in it's shadow, and waited. I faintly heard a gasp and silence.

Then there was a _thump_ and vibrations went racing through the ground. Before Gaara could move I bent earth and strapped him to the ground. He was drawing ragged breaths but was otherwise still. He was down and I had won.

I used my bending to lower the cloud and I heard Kankuro gasp and felt him running over. But I was already at Gaara's side. I smirked down at him. He tilted his head slightly and I could tell he was looking at me.

"_Now_ I'm done." I panted. "I am Toph Bei Fong and I am the greatest earthbender in the world. And you'd better not forget it."

But in that moment my head felt like it had exploded. My knees gave way and I fell to the ground and passed out.

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The next day, I was lying in a hospital bed with bandages all around my body. It was like a... cocoon? No, that's not that word I'm thinking of. Well, I'll think of it later. Anyway, Gaara had already recovered from his wound but I think he'll have a big bruise for a while. And being in the bed meant I couldn't see anything. _Anything._

"You're not bad, Bei Fong." Came Gaara's voice from somewhere to my right.

"Oh, are we on a last-name basis now?" I retorted. "I'd do the same, but I don't know yours." Gaara didn't move.

"I didn't think 'benders' existed." He murmured. "I thought they were legends."

Say what? "What the hell do you mean, _legends_?" I asked him loudly. "There's one lying in this bed! They're all over the world! Remember the freaking 100 Year _War? _When Sozin, Azulan and Ozai - all fire_benders - _went crazy and killed all-" Well, most, "- air_benders?" _

"No, they're not. And no, I haven't." Gaara said. I heard footsteps and the scraping of a chair. I guessed he was sitting next to me now. I heard the rustle of clothing and the flicking of paper. It was easy to figure out he had taken a book from a pocket. "When I was little, I read this book. I thought it was just a fairytale." More flicking of pages. "Is this right?"

"Is what right?" I asked.

"Look at this."

Say what? I sighed, annoyed. "My _god_ you people are so stupid!" I sat up in the bed and turned to where his voice was coming from.

"Excuse me?" Gaara seemed to stand up.

I sighed again. "What's wrong with you people!?" I waved my hand in front of my face. "I'm _blind_!"


	8. Seven

**A/N: Hey guys! We're not dead!**

**Uh, sorry for the wait on this chapter, but it took me ages to write ^^'. THAT'S RIGHT. Yup. I got around to writing a chapter for this epic series. :P**

**Hope ya'll enjoy! **

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_Meanwhile, back in Ba Sing Se, in the Avatar Universe..._

Sokka raised a hand in greeting to an Earth General as he leisurely strolled through the hallways. Though it was early – for Sokka, that is – in the morning, people were already rushing around like headless cow-chooks, rushing to meetings, going through documents at the last minute, trying to catch up on paperwork…

Sokka happily strolled through the middle of all the chaos. It was true – he had no meetings to attend to today, no paperwork to struggle through, nowhere to be… and he was enjoying every damned minute of it. Especially being around other people who did have to do that crap.  
It made him relish being free even more.

Seeing an open doorway and ducking through it, bumping into a harassed-looking attendant while he was at it, running a hand through his straggly wolf tail. He actually had _time_ to properly tie it up today, believe it nor not. Usually half his hair hung out, due to having utterly no time to fix it.

It was all the damned meetings. For some stupid reason, they had increased drastically the last few months, some of them going for over 6 hours at a time. Hell on earth, it was.

But not to today. Sokka grinned stupidly at the empty room he had walked into, chest puffed out. No meetings for _him_ today!

And that, he thought, was the art of arriving early. He was due at a siege of meetings in a few days' time, but, until then, he had those few days to himself. To relax, eat some meat, practise his poetry.

"And that is why I'm called the idea guy," he thumped his chest, addressing the empty room.

The empty room provided no answer.

Shrugging, he wondered out, back into the busy hallways. After a few minutes of being bumped around and his toes getting stood on, he made it to the doors leading outside, into the streets of Ba Sing Se. They were big doors, almost as big as the ones the Earth King had. _Had_.

Grinning at the memory, grabbed the handles and tried to yank the doors open, straining. Like the Earth King's 'Fancy Doors', these were hard to open. Abandoning his attempt, he stepped back, frowning.

Well. Last time, the solution was simple; get Aang to blast the doors down.

Where [was] that sneaky airbender, anyway? Unlike Sokka, Aang had already been in Ba Sing Se for around a week, having been caught up in the endless meetings, due to his Avatar status. Toph, too, actually. Little Toph had known, being the 'World's Greatest Earthbender' meant that she, too had to go to all the diplomatic meetings.

Sokka winced. The poor buggers. A week's worth of meetings felt like a month's worth of slavery, he knew.

Anyway, he should be here… well, this would be like killing two birds with one stone, then. Find Aang and Toph, get Aang to blast down the doors, and they'd all escape. Well, _They'd_ escape. Sokka had nothing to escape from yet. (Yes, he was pretty happy about not having to do work)  
Then, as if on cue - "Sokka!"

Sokka whirled around upon hearing his name, and spotted Aang almost straight away. He was weaving his way through the crowd, his yellow and orange robes standing out against the red and green, looking disgruntled. A bag, looking full and heavy, was slung haphazardly over his shoulder.

"Aang, buddy! I was just about to start looking for you!"

Muttering under his breath, Aang slid to a stop in front of Sokka, being much more successful in cutting through crowds than Sokka's clumsy attempts. "Why? And what are you doing here so early? I thought you weren't due for meetings until a few days' time."

"Because I need your help, because I can, and that is true."

Aang frowned. "Wait, what?"

Sokka laughed. "Your poor brain is fried. I have a solution for that… First things first. Blast down these doors for me."

"_What_?!"

Sokka rolled his eyes. "Don't be all dramatic. They won't open. So blast them down. No one will notice."

"And you think _my_ brain is fried," Aang lent forward, and opened a latch on the doors that Sokka hadn't noticed before. He gave the doors a light push, and they swung open easily. Aang raised an eyebrow at Sokka.

"Or… you could just open them. That works." Sokka started down the steps, motioning for Aang to follow. Aang hesitated for a few moments, feeling the weight of all the documents and paperwork in his bag, the stress of all the meetings to come, then muttered _to hell with it_ and followed.

"This plan is working perfectly so far," Sokka said, with a nod. "Get through those doors, smuggle you out-"

"So that was _smuggling_ me out, was it?"

"-and escape the horror that is the meetings. Now, we just have to get Toph out, then-"

"Wait,_ what_?!" Aang grabbed Sokka's arm, jerking him to a stop. "Toph isn't with you?"

Sokka stared at him. "No. No, she had to attend all these meetings, too. It was only me and Katara that got off them. Haven't you seen her at all?"

Aang stared back at him. "And to think, that I thought she got off having to attend. She's _ditching_!"

"Wait, isn't she here?"

"No! No, I haven't seen her at all." He growled, and started walking again. "She's- she's evil! She left me to fend for myself! Sokka, do you know how _terrible_ it is to be the only 16 year-old, surrounded by old, cranky stuffy people? In a _meeting_?"

Sokka chuckled, jogging to keep up with Aang's long strides. "Yeah, actually. Maybe that's why she's ditching. Toph will be Toph."

"She shouldn't be ditching. Hell, I'm going to find her and drag her back."

"Aw, c'mon. You're just touchy 'cos you got left behind to all those meetings."

"Damn straight I did." Aang stopped suddenly, and Sokka, surprised, bounced off his back, sprawling onto the street. "That's it!" He turned, and saw Sokka sitting on the ground, glaring up at him. "Oh. Sorry." Aang pulled him up again.

"What now?" grumbled Sokka, rubbing his sore backside.

"We'll have to find her! And this is _Toph_ we're talking about… it may take weeks to track down her hiding place and bring her back…"

"What? Seriously, it'd take half that time… oh." Sokka blinked, then smiled as he caught on. "Yeah. _Yeah_. And, we'll need help to find her… we'll need Katara and Zuko to come with us."

Aang nodded solemnly. "Yes. I'd _hate_ to leave while all these meetings are going on, but it must be done."

Sokka grinned evilly, punching Aang in the arm. "This," he stated, "is the best escape plan. I'll talk to the Earth Generals, explain that we need to go. You go get Appa, we'll pick up Zuko and Katara. And then, we'll search for the missing Toph. Which _may_ take months."

Aang saluted. "Yes, sir."

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**A/N: Okay, this time it's Morllyber here ^-^ So, this is one of the only A/N's I'm gonna write. As Chelber said above, sorry for the uber-long wait. But it's here now!**

**So, in this story I'll probably write most of the chapters. But, due to Chelber knowing more about A:TLA than I do, she'll be writing the chapters that have the Gaang in them. And now that we've come this far, she's gonna have a WHOLE lot more to write. Congratulations, Chelber, now you have a lot more to do than make sure that Toph is not OOC.**

**Well, thanks for reading this far! MorllyberNo.1 and ChelberNo.1 signing out - peace out, dudes!**


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